VATICAN CITY — Pope Francis met with the Italian film director, Senegalese actors and other crew members of a new film based on a true story of two young men’s treacherous journey from Dakar to Italy. Titled “Io Capitano” (“Me Captain”), the film’s director, Matteo Garrone, won the Silver Lion award for best director, and its lead actor, Seydou Sarr, won the Marcello Mastroianni award for best young actor at the Venice Film Festival Sept. 9. During a private audience at his Domus Sanctae Martha residence Sept. 14, the pope met with: Garrone; Sarr; actor Moustapha Fall, who plays a fellow traveler; Mamadou Kouassi whose real-life story of his three-year ordeal trapped in Libya trying to reach Europe inspired the film; and other cast and crew members. The pope watched a small clip of the film and listened to Sarr’s and Kouassi’s experiences, Garrone told Vatican News Sept. 14.
“With great generosity, the pope wanted to meet with us to support the work we did,” Garrone said.
